The Dance of the Wolves
by fiktiotta
Summary: Amon goes after Korra instead of letting her escape. AU, starting from the end of episode 9: Out of the Past. M for violence.


**1. The Dance of the Wolves**

Amon was a ghost in the midst of pure white snow.

There had been only one door out of the house, and she had already known whom she would most likely see; still, the sight of him startled her. The brisk wind fluttered the hem of his jacket as if the fabric was weightless.

A frightened gasp escaped Korra's mouth.

He turned around.

_Heck._

Korra attacked him in panic. Of course she missed. Her plan (_or, to be honest: she didn't have a plan_) wasn't to injure or kill the masked man but to slow him down. She needed time to escape, to get anywhere, no matter what; and soon she was riding a small avalanche down the hill.

The girl glanced back and was relieved to see the dark figure draw more and more away. She shouldn't have rejoiced yet: her concentration slipped, and she didn't notice a log under the snow until it was too late.

* * *

Amon stood silently and frowned. He had foreseen it: today, he would be disappointed no matter what happened. Either this would happen, and his Equalists would let his expectations down; or the young Avatar would fall way too easily, leaving Amon wondering whether he had thought too highly of her.

Which alternative was worse, he did not know.

Lieutenant walked next to him. Amon sensed that the man was embarrassed even though his expressions remained stoic – a perfect quality for a commander. Admirable. This time, however, Amon had to scold his right hand man instead of praising.

"I told you not to underestimate her", the masked man said with a dour voice. Lieutenant didn't reply; the other Equalists flinched, ashamed.

"I'm going after the young Avatar. Lieutenant, I trust you with prisoner Tarrlok. Take him to the headquarters", Amon commanded. Lieutenant was going to disagree with the idea – his mouth was slightly ajar – but Amon cut him with a cold glare.

"Do not disappoint me again."

* * *

Korra regained her consciousness slowly. Everything was blurred – white and frost were the only things that existed.

She couldn't feel her toes or fingers. Such a notion would have normally alarmed her, but not now; she wasn't afraid even of the low, growling sounds that approached her.

Wolves. The winter must have been hard on them: skin literally hung from their bones. Even as these skeletons were coming closer and closer to her in a circle, Korra didn't feel terror but, rather surprisingly, pity. She was just a bystander in a dream or an illusion, and she didn't even consider for a second that _hey, I'm going to be eaten alive_.

Frost does funny things to a mind.

Suddenly, the wolves stopped their hunting dance; their magic ring had been interrupted. A dark and tall figure had stepped out of the thick snowfall.

The beasts were maddened by the intruder and started attacking it from all sides. Korra saw how the mysterious creature dodged most of the wolves' attempts and, instead, managed to hit them with its arms and legs.

Growling, snarling and desperate whimper filled the air until the battle was over, and the dark figure was the last thing standing.

It was a horrifying sight.

Some of the wolves were slaughtered – the others escaped. Korra smelled a metallic scent in the air, and the snow had turned from white to deep crimson.

The shock of it all woke her up.

This was real. She was there; surrounded by dead, limp corpses, she couldn't move and _what was that thing approaching her?_

The blurred figure got clearer and clearer, until Korra was sure whose it was –

It was Amon's.

The man limped towards her. At least one of the wolves had succeeded in sinking its teeth into his flesh. Korra heard that he was breathing laboriously, but she wasn't going to feel sorry for the monster.

_'Ugh, zombie, stay away from me or please__** please**__ just die!'_ she screamed inside her head. It was as if she had been heard – Amon took several steps and fell on the snow.

Korra stared.

_Heck. _

"H-hey!" she managed to say. It was surprisingly hard to talk with frozen lips.

"Arh-re you alive?"

Amon didn't move.

_Hecky heck._ Korra almost felt as if she was responsible for murder. She wanted to move, but her body didn't approve of the idea. She needed to warm herself up somehow.

She glanced around.

Amon's dead _(?)_ body caught her eye. The corpse had to be still warm.

_Heck. _She didn't like at all where this was going…

Korra gathered all her strength – and courage – and crawled painfully slowly to the man. She pressed herself to his side.

Warmth. It was a pleasant feeling – the only pleasant thing that Amon had ever offered her.

He was breathing.

Korra sighed out of relief and disappointment. _Oh well_. Maybe it was a bit better this way around. Not much, but a bit. At least his body warmth wouldn't die so quickly as if it would were he dead.

But what about the other Equalists? There had been quite many of them, and Korra was sure that they would be there soon. She had to get away, but it would have taken too much time for her to recover, even now that she had a living (correction: half-dead) hot-water bag.

The girl chuckled. She would have never thought that she would use those words to describe Amon.

Suddenly, Korra heard crunchy sounds. Something or someone was coming their way. She was quite certain it had to be either the wolves again or the Equalists, but neither came.

Instead, she saw Naga.

Never had she loved the polar bear dog as much as then. The creature noticed Korra and advanced her way. When Naga got close enough, she started to lick Korra's face.

The girl laughed.

"You came looking for me..? Good girl…" she whispered. Korra climbed on the polar bear dog's back. Then she remembered Amon's presence.

"Oh", she sighed. She couldn't just leave him there in that condition, even if she wanted to do so.

"Take him with us, ok?"

* * *

He felt drowsy, but he could recollect what had happened.

He had made a fatal mistake.

He had considered them normal wolves at first. They were absolutely not. Amon could remember the biology book he had used to glance through as a child.

_Venom wolves_. Their teeth had poison in them. The only cure to it could be found under the creature's tongue; there was a little bag-like organ filled with anti-toxin. It was originally meant in case the beast bit itself.

He had noticed what species they were a bit too late – his head had already gone dizzy and his legs had started to wobble. Fortunately for him, the beasts still alive had given up preying on him, and some of them were dead. He remembered kneeling next to one corpse and cutting the organ under its tongue, then taking the bag into his mouth. Once bitten open, bitter liquid had started invading his mouth – the taste had been so terrible that he almost had spitted the cure. Instead, he had swallowed it, grimacing out of nausea.

His vision had darkened from time to time.

_The young Avatar… She wasn't bitten, was she? She was his enemy, but he wasn't going to let her die. He had to check up on her_ - - he had been on his way to do so until he collapsed.

And now he was here, on a moving thing. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew that it was a living being since it was warm and soft. Was it fur under his hands? He opened slightly his eyes and the first thing he saw was white.

But it wasn't because of the snow. He wasn't on the snowy grounds anymore; no, it was the Republic City he was seeing.

He noticed that the white was from a polar bear dog – the young Avatar's animal guide if he remembered right. _How –_

"Go back to sleep. I don't fancy fighting you right now", a tired voice said. Amon lifted his head a little. The world span still; the medicine needed some more time to take effect.

"… U-uh-vatar…" he murmured.

"Ugh. You sound like someone I know. Stop it before I creep out."

Was the Avatar… chuckling? This wasn't good. He wasn't supposed to be funny. Something was slipping away.

Well, at least the Avatar obviously hadn't been bitten; she wouldn't be laughing otherwise.

And she wouldn't be laughing if she knew what kind of danger she had been facing. She was lucky, and she wasn't even aware of that. The young Avatar, unfortunately, was blind to many other things, too; such things as oppression, poor children living on the streets, high crime rates…

He frowned.

"Korra!" someone shouted – Amon even recognized his face: Mako, a probender and a friend of the Avatar's, also the boyfriend of Hiroshi Sato's daughter – Ah. Speaking of the devil. There the girl was.

"What?"

"Amon!"

The voices tensed. Soon Amon saw councilman Tenzin – no-one could miss the blue arrow on his head – and chief Beifong, who tossed him to the ground rather roughly and put her left foot on his chest. The woman had raw power in her thin arms, he had to admit.

"_Eek_", a young, green-eyed boy yelped. Bolin was his name if the masked man remembered right. Yes, that was the boy who had escaped him on the night of revelation.

"Korra, are you alright?"

"Korra, what happened?"

"Korra –"

"Korra –"

The worried questions filled the air. The young Avatar didn't have time to answer any of them. Then, suddenly, a blunt command came:

"Give her some space!"

Amon saw how Mako took Korra into his arms and carried her away. Miss Sato glanced after the two in a way the masked man couldn't miss - - ah, that was how it was, then.

_A teenage love triangle._ How _not_ fascinating! – _but_, maybe, he could someday use this information for his advance.

The foot on him pressed him tighter to the rocky ground. A moan almost escaped his mouth. He wasn't going to show weakness in front of these people. He inhaled deeply and, without a warning, slashed his arm at the chief's leg, making her fall down to his level.

"Ah!" Lin Beifong blurted out of surprise.

"Never dare to step on me again, chief Beifong", Amon growled. He gathered his strength and got on his feet, trying not to sway doing so. Soon he was standing rather plausibly, his hands resting behind his back and his stance straight. The only thing that gave him away was the way he looked at his enemies; it was foggy and didn't seem concentrated.

"Eek", Bolin yelped again and backed off. Tenzin wasn't convinced of the man's façade, however. He seemed to think for a second and said:

"Amon, you are injured. Don't make us fight against you."

Amon glared at the old man coldly. Councilman Tenzin was one of the very few people who did not to flinch. They stared at each other silently for a little while; two strong minds clashed against each other.

Councilman Tenzin seemed to be an honorable man, even for a bender. This, somehow, made Amon do his decision in his slurred state.

"Very well", he said, "I will leave this… body in your hands. But before I do that, I must make one thing clear: do not touch the mask. Mr. Sato has set up a trigger in it, and if the mask is taken the wrong way off, a hidden bomb will blow somewhere in the city."

"He is lying!" Mako snarled through his gritted teeth.

"He could be, but we cannot be sure", the councilman said, frowning, "Have it your way then, Amon. We will not remove your mask."

Amon nodded. Sure that his identity wouldn't be harmed, he collapsed, letting the darkness engulf him.


End file.
